by KIKI MALONE
My dad, God I miss him, taught me many things in life. I was his only child and he was a mechanic himself. I was always there, right beside him whenever he worked on his cars, whether it be cars at the shop or our own at home. He taught me everything he knew. He always told me that unless I knew how to fix my own car, I didn’t have any business driving one. I took that to heart.
He passed away when I was sixteen. I was home with my mother cooking when we got the phone call. My father was under a car, fixing the brake lines when the lift in the garage broke. The hydraulics stopped working and the lift fell, crushing and killing him on impact. That was one of the hardest days of my life. We were later told that his friend, George, who had been working with him that day, tried to get him out, but it was too late.
My mother, she mentally checked out that day. Her mental state was always in question – she was bipolar and well medicated – but the day she lost the love of her life, it was all over. Shortly after my father’s funeral, my mother checked herself into St. Mary’s Mental Institution. She knew she needed help and finally wanted to make sure she could manage her illness long term.
Well, here it is twelve years later and she’s still there. What she thought was going to turn out for the best, actually made her worse. She’s barely recognizable these days. She doesn’t know who I am most times and is always asking for my father. I still see her weekly, though my heart breaks every time.
I love my mother. She was a great mom before her mental break. She may have had mental health issues, but she never let them get in the way of taking care of me. She made sure to take her medication daily, so she’d never suffered a mental breakdown that I ever remember. And I do remember a lot from my childhood.
I remember the days of sitting on the counter and making chocolate chip cookies together. We would both be wearing more flour than went into the cookies. My father would come home from work and find us in the kitchen having flour fights. He’d laugh and join in sometimes. Other times, he’d break us up, send us to clean ourselves up while he cleaned the mess we had made himself. I really did have amazing parents.
Angie was there, right by my side through it all. Her family took me in immediately following my mother’s breakdown. They never asked me for anything in return. They took care of me like I was their own child. They even offered to pay for my wedding when I married the man I believed I would be with forever.
When my marriage fell apart, Angie was there. It didn’t matter that she had a four-year-old to deal with at the time. Her parents took her son, Alfonso, and sent her straight to me. They loved their grandson and their daughter so much. They always told me they loved me as if I were their own and wanted to make sure my sister was always there for me when I needed her.
Alfonso, my Alfie, is the greatest child you’d ever know. He may not have been planned and may be the outcome of something horrific that happened to Angie when we were just seventeen, but she’s never made him feel it or acted like he was anything but perfect. She’s loved her little boy from the moment she found out she was pregnant with him.
Alfie, thank goodness, will never know his father. That bastard raped my best friend at a party one night and then wrecked his car, killing a family. At first, he tried to blame everything on Angie, but she was the one who was hurt. He even tried to convince her to drop the rape charges, saying he was drunk and didn’t know what he had done. That he got into his car after he realized what he did to her and that’s why he got into the accident that killed that family, while drinking and driving.
He was held without bail for a while before he went through two separate trials. We made sure to be there for both. He was convicted of four counts of vehicular homicide in his first trial, one count for each of the family members he killed. Then he was convicted of rape in the second for what he did to my best friend. All together he will face more than fifty years in jail, without the chance for parole. He’ll never get the chance to know his son, and Alfie’s so much better off for it.
When Angie found out she was pregnant, unlike most people who have been raped, she believed that the child she was carrying was the light that came out of all the dark that happened that fateful night. When she gave birth, at just eighteen, she named her son after the family her rapist had killed to honor them and to give their name the life that bastard took away from them. She’s one of the most honorable women I’ll ever meet. She’s been the best mom you can imagine, and her parents supported her decision wholeheartedly.
I love my best friend. I don’t think there is anyone as strong as she is. I’m in complete awe of her heart, her soul and her perseverance.
I’m staring at the photo of my best friend and her son that I have saved on my phone, when it suddenly rings in my hand. I don’t recognize the number so at first, I’m hesitant to answer it.
I’m used to calls from strange numbers all hours of the day and night. It’s what happens when you run your own tow service, but I took the day off. The workers at my garage know this is a rarity, so they wouldn’t let anyone bother me.
Reluctantly, I answer the phone. It was in my nature to work and even though I promised myself I wouldn’t today, I have to, because my employees must’ve thought it important if they passed the call through to my phone. Otherwise, they would’ve taken care of it all themselves and not taken the chance of pissing me off by bothering me. Not that I get pissed off, either, that’s another rarity. I’m always the calm one. I’ve learned to take one day at a time and live in the moment.
“Hello, Grace Family Auto Service, how can I help you?” I answer right before I know it would go to voicemail. That’s the name I use for my garage. I know technically I don’t have a ‘family’, but I still use my family name. I use it to honor my father and everything he taught me. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do today.
When I turned eighteen, a lawyer came to see me. Apparently, my father was still taking care of me after his death. He had purchased the shop where he had worked, and no one knew. He set up a fund and the shop paid for itself until I turned eighteen. At that point, the shop and everything that went with it became mine. There wasn’t much money left at that point, but it was enough that I could make some changes. Angie’s family helped me out with the rest of what I needed. I’ve run a lucrative business ever since.
“Hey, Elizabeth, this is Tony down at the Audi dealership. I’m sorry to bother you today. Your workers said you were unreachable, but I have a vehicle broke down in the middle of the road down on Sumpter and really need a flatbed to tow it. You’re the only one I know with a flatbed in the area, so I didn’t have much of a choice. I really don’t want to inconvenience you.”
It’s not out of the norm for me to get calls from the dealerships around town. You’d think that with how many vehicles they have to tow and how often they need it, they’d get their own tow trucks. I won’t be the one to complain that they don’t have the equipment they need, however, because they pay me well when I tow vehicles for them.
I know, without a doubt, that I’ll take this tow job. Money is money, and I’m always in need of extra funds. Plus, he said the vehicle in question is in the middle of the road. I can’t in good conscience leave a vehicle stuck in the middle of the damn road. Thankfully, it’s on my way to the concert hall, so I guess I’m going to be trading in my Miata for the flatbed and will need extra parking at the concert hall. This will take up the extra time I thought I had to get to the venue.
“It’s fine, Tony,” I reply. “I’m on my way. Give me the details of the vehicle and the issue. I’ll get out there and get them on their way,” I say and wait for his reply before I hang up.
Ugh. I want to bang my head against the table. Rich assholes and their expensive vehicles. They buy a car they don’t know how to fix and that irks me so much. I just wish people would learn about their cars before they get in them. It only takes a few minutes to look over everything before you get in it and drive away. If people would be mo
re cognizant of their vehicle’s needs, there would be a hell of a lot fewer breakdowns, which would result in a hell of a lot less traffic delays.
Thank goodness Sumpter is basically an abandoned road because I couldn’t imagine the amount of backed-up traffic that would cause on a Saturday afternoon. The road would be blocked for miles and that would take so much more time for me to be able to get to them.
I grab the keys off the hook by the door, hop up into Old Mack, and get on my way.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ELIZABETH
HOW CAN I SAY NO?
I CAN’T BELIEVE I have to work on the day I promised myself I wouldn’t. Fucking pricks with their expensive cars. I bet the guy thought the car would just run and fix itself and never bothered to take it in for maintenance.
I don’t take time off and the one and only day I wanted to dedicate solely to my nephew, I don’t have much of a choice but to go out there and rescue someone who probably shouldn’t even be driving the car they are. Pretentious dicks.
I take a left onto Sumpter and don’t see anything right away. Of course, they would likely be all the way down at the end of the road. This will take even more time away from my day. This road seems to go on forever. There aren’t many homes on this road, it leads to a dead end and marks the edge of town.
All the anger and frustration I was feeling quickly leaves me as I start to laugh at the site in front of me. Someone went way overboard with safety cones, I see. There has to be at least a dozen cones surrounding the white Audi SUV that’s broken down in the middle of the road. It’s not like the dude had anything to worry about it, he’s probably the only person to be this far down the road since there’s no one else that lives anywhere close.
I snap a picture and send it to Angie before I get out of the truck. This will make us laugh for days to come.
I look around the vehicle and over in the grass on the side but don’t see anyone. It would’ve made more sense for whoever is in that car to stay over on the grass instead of staying in their car. When I walk up to the car, I see a man in the driver’s seat and some children in the front playing with him.
Well, ain’t that quite the sight? It’s not a normal one anyway. It’s pretty entertaining watching these little girls jumping all over him, and the smile on his face tells me he is truly enjoying himself.
Hesitantly, because disturbing the scene in front of me should be a sin, I knock on the window. I feel bad interrupting their playtime, but I have somewhere to be and just need to get this over and done with.
The girls jump and dive into the backseat as the man slowly opens his window. He’s quite the looker, wow. His eyes are a piercing green which complements his dark brown hair that is short but styled just right. His jaw seems a little crooked, but the five o’clock shadow he’s sporting tells me he doesn’t care. He has a look that makes him seem off-limits but immediately my libido kicks into high gear.
“Hi,” he says, and that voice just melts right through me. I forget for a moment why I’m here.
“Is that's your truck?” says one of the sweet angels from the back seat. My smile grows even larger when I hear her toddler-speak.
“Sofia, give Daddy a minute, sweetheart,” the man replies. He looks at the girl with so much love in his eyes, I’m a little jealous. Huh, where in the hell did that come from?
“Hello,” I finally manage to say. “I heard you were broken down and need assistance. Can you tell me what happened? Maybe I can fix you up real quick and get you on your way.” I look into the back once again and notice that the three little girls in the back are practically identical. They have to be the most adorable twins and little sister I’ve ever seen. Their mom must be an exquisite beauty because these girls take my breath away.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with the car,” the gentleman says. “I just had her serviced the other day and I was told everything looked good. We were on our way to the girls’ first recital and the car just stopped. I looked under the hood and didn’t see anything out of the norm, so I don’t understand what happened.”
“Okay, can you please pop the hood for me?” I ask. I look back at the girls again and smile. The two that look identical won’t look at me but the little one is all smiles. She may just be the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.
“Yeah,” he answers. “Girls, you stay here and behave. Daddy is going to check out the car with this young lady, is that okay?”
“Yes, Daddy,” all three reply at the same time.
Oh, how cute!
“Hi, I’m Elizabeth,” I introduce myself once he steps out of the car. I have to look up at him as he’s got to be almost six feet tall. He’s not too tall, but when you’re only five foot two, everyone is tall.
“I’m Carter,” he replies as he takes my proffered hand. “I’m sorry to bother you, it looks like you were in the middle of something.” He points to my outfit.
Shit, in my haste to get things rolling, I completely forgot that I was in a skirt and heels. Oh well, I’m not going to run back home to change now.
“Yes, my nephew has a concert today,” I answer. Why am I explaining myself to him? I have no idea, but I prattle on. “I was on my way there when I got the call to come and rescue you. We have to make this quick or I’m going to be late. Plus,” I add, “it looks like you have somewhere to be as well.”
I noticed that his girls were in leotards and tutus. They must be heading to some kind of dance class.
“Yeah, I have to hurry too,” he starts to explain. “Today is the girls’ first dance recital and they’ve been so excited. I can’t let them down. They’ve been looking forward to this for so long and I don’t like my girls to be disappointed.”
His love for his girls is so evident on his face and in his voice. You don’t find many dedicated fathers out there like this one.
“Is your wife on her way?” I ask. “I can just tow the car and she can pick you up, so you won’t have to go with the car. I don’t want to keep you from what you have to do.”
“No wife,” he answers abruptly. “It’s only me and my girls.”
I don’t normally allow people to just leave their cars with me. Usually, they have to come with me or follow me to ensure the car gets to where it needs to go. For some strange reason, I want to make an exception here. I don’t want those precious babies to miss their dance recital.
It takes me a moment, but I just realized he said there’s no wife. I wonder if maybe he just has the girls for his weekly visit, but something about the way he looks at those girls and the way they look at him tells me being a part-time dad isn’t something he’s doing. Maybe the wife passed away or something.
I haven’t let a man get under my skin in so long but this man, or his daughters’ really, have me doing things I would never do.
“How old are they?” I hear myself ask. “They’re twins, correct?” I ask as I point to the two bigger girls.
“No,” he answers. At my perplexed look, he continues, “They’re triplets. Sofia was much smaller when she was born and has always been smaller than Isabella and Felicia. She’s also much smarter than her sisters, but they are triplets.”
Wow. I would’ve never guessed triplets, but looking at them again, I do see it. He must really have his hands full with the three girls. I’m going to ease his stress today. I’m sure any little thing helps him these days.
“Okay, it’s against policy,” I begin, “but, please take the girls and put them in the cab of my truck. I’m going to put your car on the flatbed and then drop you off where you need to go. I shouldn’t have them in the truck, but since I own it, I’ll make an exception. I mean, who is going to yell at me? I have somewhere to be myself, so after my nephew’s concert, I’ll drop your car off at the dealership. Is that okay?”
“You’d really do that?” he asks with a bit of wonder in his voice. “Thank you.”
He walks back to his truck and opens the back door. All three girls jump out of the car and now I re
ally see how much they look alike. The smallest of the three looks up at me and waves. I can’t help but wave back and break out into a smile.
I hook up his SUV and lock it into place on the flatbed while he puts the girls’ booster seats in the extended cab of the truck. He’s such an attentive dad and I get lost for a minute just watching how he makes sure all three are nice and secure in the seats.
The drive to the dance hall is full of chatter. The little one, who told me her name was Sofia Marie, asks so many questions. She’s a very inquisitive little girl and now I see why Carter said she was so smart. The other two girls talk about their clothes and their hair. They are just as precious as their sister but not as friendly. I’m sure once they know someone they are more like little Sofia, but they just met me, so I understand their hesitance.
When I get to the dance hall, I hand Carter my card and tell him that the Audi dealership will contact him once his car is ready. He asks me how much he owes me, but I tell him that I’m paid by the dealership and he has nothing to worry about. I let him know I’ll put the girls’ seats back in his car so he won’t have to carry them around.
He gets the girls out of their seats, and to my surprise, Sofia jumps into my arms and hugs me. She thanks me for saving them and then goes back to her dad who gently lowers her to the sidewalk.
I think I just fell in love with that little girl. Too bad this will probably be the only time I ever see her. My heart hurts at that thought.
“Thank you again,” Carter says and reaches his hand out to shake mine. He looks down while my hand is in his and smiles. “She’s never like that. She’s the shyest one of my girls, but obviously she sees something in you that the other two don’t. Thank you for being so patient and answering all of her questions.”
